I recommend Losing the War by Lee Sandlin to anyone who shares an interest in armed conflict.

I disagree with one aspect of his work: he believes that Japan would have surrendered within weeks even without the use of atomic bombing, despite going on elsewhere in the paper about the abundance of overoptimism on the part of every planner in World War II. All of them believed that their enemy was continually on the verge of surrender. He doesn’t see that his abhorrence at the US use of nuclear weapons might be the same sort of willful denial of reality.

Even so, it’s a good read.

I don’t want to die on an airplane. I don’t want to die in my home while eating an organic bagel infested with parasites that lay eggs on my liver. I don’t want to die from starvation or bad water or a thousand other things that I pay our government to monitor and regulate.

But I also don’t expect the government to protect from the literally endless possibilities and threats that could occur at any point to end my life or the life of the few I love. It’s been nearly a decade since terrorists used airplanes to attack our country, and last week’s attempt makes it clear that the lack of terrorist attacks have nothing to do with the increasing gauntlet of whirring machines, friskings, and arbitrary bureaucratic provisions, but simply that for the most part, there just aren’t that many terrorists trying to blow up planes. Because god knows if there were, the TSA isn’t capable of stopping them. We’re just one bad burrito away from the TSA forcing passengers to choke back an Imodium and a Xanax before being hogtied to our seats.

“Pst. Dude.” *shake*
“*snerk* Huh? Wha?”
“You slept thru the first month of winter. The Prof is gonna kill you!”
“OMGWTFBBQ! Why did you let me sleep so long?!?”
“I dunno, dude, you just looked peaceful or something. At least I woke you before the Solstice.”
“I gotta make up for lost time! Do something spectacular!”

It’s short, but enjoyable.

It remains difficult to keep a good opinion of the average human.

I love that there is a checklist for post-launch shutdown and hardening. The crew at the complex may have just participated in a nuclear holocaust which may drive the human race extinct, but the ones in the bunker will at least have a fair shot at surviving the immediate aftermath.